Commodity Corner: Oil Surges on Storm Threat
September oil futures settled at $79.30 a barrel Thursday, a $2.74 increase from the previous day as the possibility of a tropical system entering the Gulf of Mexico and disrupting offshore oil production becomes stronger.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Tropical Depression Three was centered approximately 425 miles east-southeast of Key West, Fla., as of 5 p.m. EDT Friday. Maximum sustained winds were 35 miles per hour and the system was moving in a northwesterly direction at 14 mph. Although an Air Force reconnaissance plane found no evidence of strengthening, forecasters expected the system to turn in a more west-northwesterly direction overnight and perhaps become a tropical storm by Friday. The system is expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday and make landfall as a tropical storm anywhere from the upper Texas to Mississippi/Alabama Gulf Coast as early as Sunday afternoon.
Crude oil traded from $76.16 to $78.95 Thursday.
The prospect of the storm entering the Gulf also contributed to a 13-cent increase in front-month natural gas futures, which settled at $4.64 per thousand cubic feet. Also contributing to the rise was news from the Energy Information Administration that the country's surplus of working natural gas in storage has declined for the fifth straight week relative to the five-year (2005-2009) average.
EIA reported that working natural gas in storage increased to 2,891 billion cubic feet as of last Friday, which implies a net injection of 51 Bcf. In contrast, 70 Bcf of gas was injected during the same period in 2009; the five-year average is 64 Bcf. Working gas inventories are 52 Bcf lower than they were a year ago and 261 Bcf above the five-year average level.
The intraday range for natural gas was $4.51 to $4.72.
The August gasoline futures price settled 8 cents higher at $2.15 a gallon Thursday. Gasoline traded from $2.06 to $2.14 during the day's session.
- Falcon Oil Declares Commercial Flow Test Results for Shenandoah Well
- Macquarie Strategists Expect Brent Oil Price to Grind Higher
- Japan Failing to Meet Corporate Demand for Clean Power: Amazon
- UK Oil Regulator Publishes New Emissions Reduction Plan
- Pennsylvania County Joins List of Local Govts Suing Big Oil over Climate
- PetroChina Posts Higher Annual Profit on Higher Production
- McDermott Settles Reficar Dispute
- US, SKorea Launch Task Force to Stop Illicit Refined Oil Flows into NKorea
- Russian Navy Enters Warship-Crowded Red Sea Amid Houthi Attacks
- USA Commercial Crude Oil Inventories Increase
- New China Climate Chief Says Fossil Fuels Must Keep a Role
- Oil Demand Outpaces Expectations, Testing Calculus on Peak Crude
- House Passes Protecting American Energy Production Act
- TotalEnergies Restarts Production in Denmark's Biggest Gas Field
- USA Oil and Gas Job Figures Jump
- Republican Lawmakers Say IEA Has Abandoned Energy Security Mission
- Blockchain Demands Attention in Oil and Gas
- Houthis Warn Saudi Arabia of Retaliation If It Backs USA Attacks
- Macquarie Sees USA Oil Production Exiting 2024 at 14MM Barrels Per Day
- Summer Pump Prices Set to Hit $4 a Gallon Just as Americans Hit the Road
- New China Climate Chief Says Fossil Fuels Must Keep a Role
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Major Oilfield Discovery
- VIDEO: Missile Attack Kills Crew Transiting Gulf of Aden
- Norway Regulator Blasts Proposal to Halt New Oil and Gas Permits
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Another Major Oilfield Discovery
- What Is the Biggest Risk to Offshore Oil and Gas Personnel in 2024?
- Vessel Sinks in Red Sea After Missile Strike
- Exxon Rights in Stabroek Do Not Apply to Hess Merger with Chevron: Hess
- Equinor Makes Discovery in North Sea
- Analysts Reveal Latest Oil Price Outlook Following OPEC+ Cut Extension